VIDEO: Oldest female US Marine veteran honored

RHINEBECK – She was born in 1910.

She enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1943.

And after serving in Hawaii and the Philippines, she was discharged in 1946.

Ruth Milliot of Rhinebeck, while in the service, kept track of personnel records for wounded Marines and those killed in action. A resident of the Thompson House, a nursing home on the campus of Northern Dutchess Hospital and an affiliate of Health Quest in LaGrange, Milliot, 103, is the oldest female Marine veteran in the nation.

On Monday, she was honored by U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, for her military service. The occasion, held in the Thompson House lobby, was also used to draw attention to services available to female military veterans. Milliot, who received the Women's Veterans Challenge Coin, was not available for an interview. But her niece, Dot Milliot, passed along a message from her aunt.

"She was just in her room telling me, 'I don't know why they gave it to me. There's a lot of people around better than me. I don't know that I really deserve this,' " Dot Milliot said.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, women in 2009 comprised 8 percent of the total veteran population in the United States. By 2035, they are projected to make up 15 percent of all living veterans. In 2009, about 32 percent of the estimated 1.5 million women veterans were enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration system. Of the 485,398 enrolled women, 292,921 used VA health care in 2009. Locally, the Castle Point veterans hospital in southern Dutchess provides services to those who served in the military.

The number of women using VA health care increased 83 percent from 2000 to 2009, from 159,630 to 292,921. That's an increase from about 10 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2009.

But the launch of the coin in June, which officials hope will spur word-of-mouth awareness — the coin also includes a phone number women can call for information on services for veterans — shows that work remains on getting the word out. Research has shown that some women do not consider themselves veterans, and therefore eligible for services, because they didn't see combat or served for only a short time in the military.

"Moments like this event, where we're celebrating Ruth's incredible life, this is also an opportunity for us to spread the word about these services so that we can get more veterans to actually sign up for the VA, including our female veterans," said Gibson, a veteran of the U.S. Army.

"Women in the service did whatever work had to be done," Ruth Milliott said in a statement released by Health Quest. "...The women Marines, they were a wonderful bunch."

John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822; Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo

Call 1-855-829-6636 for information on services for women veterans.

Visit www.poughkeepsiejournal.com for a video report on Ruth Milliot.